Malik, Boppana, Mankad, Yuki get wild cards

Chandigarh, Mar 28 (UNI) Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association trainee Vijayanat Malik along with Rohan Boppana, Harsh Mankad and Yuki Bhambri have been awarded wild cards in main draw of the 10,000 Dollers ITF Men's Futures Circuit Tennis Tournament which will begin on March 31 at the CLTA Hard Courts here.

The qualifying rounds will be played on March 29 and 30. Eight players would qualify for the main draw from the qualifying draw of 64. Out of 18 players who have obtained direct entry in to the main draw of 32 on the basis of their ranking, seven are Indians.

Ashutosh Singh is the third highest ranked player in the fray with a ranking of 601. Chinese Peng Sun (481st) and Hyun-Woo Nam of Korea (509th) are the highest ranked players who have staked their claim for the top honour.

Puneet Gupta has been appointed International Tennis Federation Referee. According to Puneet Gupta 75 players have signed in for the qualifying draw.

Reviewing the arrangements, CLTA chairman Rajan Kashyap said that the matches would be played on synthetic courts. If needed the matches could be played under floodlights.